Davidson women knock Duke from unbeaten ranks
Blue Devils lack energy and focus in 69-62 setback.
The Davidson women used a 10-0 run in the first quarter and a 12-2 run in the second quarter to key a 69-62 win over Duke Thursday night in Cameron.
The Wildcats never trailed after the first 3:06. They led 39-27 at the break and never saw their lead drop below seven in the second half. Davidson was more experienced, more disciplined and sharper across the board in handing Duke its first defeat after three wins.
“We’ve got a great blend of talent and experience, talented experience,” Davidson coach Gayle Fulks said. “We’re willing to work together to create advantages and once we create those advantages, capitalize on them. We’re pretty disciplined. We talk about it a lot. We’re not going to be a hero operation.”
“We came in with the appropriate respect for what they could do,” Kara Lawson said. “They did a great job of executing tonight.”
Duke led 6-3 when the wheels started to come off. Reigan Richardson picked up her first foul 4:05 into the game and a second two seconds later
Kara Lawson said she should have taken Richardson out after that first foul but added that “I wanted to give her a little bit of a leash as a junior to see if she could play with a foul, can they play with two fouls, can they play with three fouls.”
Richardson didn’t come back in the during the first half and never got back into rhythm, scoring six points in 24 minutes.
Duke went almost six minutes without a point after taking that 6-3 lead, while the visitors were putting 10 on the board.
It was 15-11 after one. Emma Koabel knocked down a triple to open the second period and Duke even had a chance to take the lead at 15-14. But a turnover ended that threat, one of Duke’s 19 on the evening.
Davidson’s lead kept getting bigger and bigger, 22-14, 27-16, 37-23.
It was 39-27 after a half.
Duke freshman Oluchi Okananwa blamed poor defensive effort for the deficit.
“Lack of energy. Coach said it. That was not us. Defense is something that we preach, something we hold dear to our hearts. That first half we weren’t ourselves.”
Okananwa and fellow freshman Jadyn Donovan tried to jump start a second-half comeback. Duke cut the deficit to seven at 50-43 at the end of the third, 52-45 early in the fourth and 59-52 with 3:34 left.
But Duke could never get closer. Fulks cited her team’s ability “to stay true to ourselves. We settled in. We stayed disciplined.”
Okananwa led Duke with 15 points and nine rebounds. Camilla Emsbo added 11 points, the only other Blue Devil in double figures.
But Okananwa and Donovan each had four turnovers. Perhaps more critically Davidson made 9 of 18 from beyond the arc, Duke 2 of 13, 0 for 5 in the second half. Richardson and Ashlon Jackson (seven points) were a combined 4 for 16 from the field, 0-6 on 3s. Taina Mair was 4 for 14, 1 for 6 on 3s.
Lawson said she thought her team generated quality looks but “we’re not finishing. The point of offense is to generate quality looks but then we’ve got to finish. When we play with great pace, I think we’re a team that can score well.”
Duke scored four points in transition.
“An uneven performance from the effort standpoint,” Lawson summed up. “I’m disappointed in that. I didn’t think we played with the effort required to win a game in college basketball until probably the end of the third quarter, going into the fourth quarter. That’s disappointing and that’s something I have to do a better job of getting our players to understand.”
Stanford is next Sunday afternoon at Palo Alto, sixth-ranked Stanford, with South Carolina looming, then an ACC schedule that will punish teams that don’t display the requisite energy and focus.